San Diego always hits different. There’s a specific kind of electricity that only exists in that convention center — the smell of con-exclusive popcorn buckets, the line chatter, the way total strangers become your people for four days because you’re all wearing the same fandom on your sleeve. This year’s SDCC didn’t disappoint, and I want to walk you through it the way I experienced it: kickoff party first, then the floor, then the reveals that had the whole hall buzzing.
Wednesday Night: Ready Party One
Before badges even scanned on Preview Night, the con already had a heartbeat. Ready Party One: Final Level, the SDCC kickoff party, took over PARQ Nightclub on Wednesday, July 22, and it set the tone for the entire week.
The lineup alone told you this wasn’t a throwaway pregame. Key performances came from The Flux Capacitors, a set from the band Smashing 90s featuring Gui Agustini — the actor who voices Sunspot on X-Men ’97 — who performed dressed as his comic book character, Pri Yon Joni (lightsaber scratching), ATO Worldwide, and Aventine. But the special guests were the real headline: Walter Jones, the original Black Ranger from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, and actor/comedian Chris Kattan both made appearances. For anyone who grew up morphing in their living room, having Walter Jones step out at a con kickoff party hit a specific kind of nostalgia nerve — and seeing Kattan in the mix too made it clear this wasn’t just a DJ set, it was a full-on fan moment. It’s always different seeing the people who built your childhood shows up in person, in the flesh, at the same party you’re standing in.
@cosplaysbyshinobi When you become videographer for an SDCC after party #CapCut #walterjones #sdcc #xmen97 @Walter Emanuel Jones
IGN After Party
If Wednesday was the warmup, the IGN after party was where the week really opened up. Jamie Campbell Bower was on the decks, which is its own kind of surreal — watching someone you know from the screen work a crowd from behind a booth. Between sets and conversations, I crossed paths with Jack Quaid, Jason R. Moore (from the Punisher series), and Jordan the Stallion. Nights like that are why SDCC week is worth the exhaustion — the wall between “content you watch” and “people you talk to” just comes down for a few hours.
Friday was a deep-dive into craft. I caught Z Cher-Aime on the “Get Your Story into Comics or Animation” panel, and it was a good reminder that for as much as SDCC is about spectacle, the foundation is still story — knowing how to translate an idea from a page in your notebook into something that lives on a screen or in a comic panel. That’s the kind of session I always make time for.
From there it was straight to the Marvel booth to get up close with the costume displays — seeing the suits in person, stitching and all, hits different than seeing them on screen. And the best part of the day was catching up with Costume Guild members from The Boys, Laura LJ Shannon and Gina DeDomenico Morse, the concept artist and designer behind the show’s superhero suits. Talking to the people who actually build the world you see on screen — the fabric choices, the silhouettes, the small design decisions that make a costume feel lived-in — is one of my favorite parts of con week. It’s a reminder that every frame is built by hands, not just imagined.
X-Men ’97
Saturday belonged to the animation heads. The X-Men ’97 panel, hosted by ATO Worldwide, packed the room — and rightfully so. This show has done something rare: it took a generation’s Saturday-morning memory and rebuilt it with the craft and stakes of a series made for the fans who never stopped caring. Sitting in a room full of people who grew up on the original ’90s run, watching them react in real time to where the story’s headed next, is exactly the kind of energy that reminds you why animation deserves to be talked about with the same seriousness as any prestige drama.
@cosplaysbyshinobi
Right off the panel, the floor pulled me toward the SG Blaise booth — one of those stops where the art does the talking. S.G. Blaise is an award-winning author of science fiction and fantasy, best known for The Last Lumenian series, part of her larger story universe, The Seven Galaxies Chronicles. If you haven’t put her work on your radar yet, SDCC is exactly where you catch up.
A man on a quest, a kingdom in turmoil, a god, awakened, a galaxy forever changed. This is… Hollow Healer. In a kingdom where magic and religion are forbidden, one healer breaks the rules. When everyone he loves is destroyed, he calls on a god who sets him on a path of vengeance. Step into the story that started it all. The Seven Galaxies will never be the same. Lilac Grove Entertainment started working with Tongal and Chase A Cloud in early 2025, developing the first animated short in a series — launching the Seven Galaxies Chronicles into production.
Watch the short here
The Reveals: Black Panther, Ghost Rider and a Deadpool Surprise
And then came the news that sent the whole convention into group-chat overdrive. Ryan Coogler stepped out to announce that David Jonsson will be the new Black Panther, and honestly, I can’t wait to see David in this role. He’s a brilliant actor — he proved that already in The Long Walk and Alien: Romulus — and putting him inside a legacy this heavy feels like exactly the kind of casting swing Coogler is known for.
Marvel also confirmed the new Ghost Rider movie will star Ryan Gosling. Ghost Rider is one of my favorite characters, full stop, so this one hit personal. I won’t lie — a part of me would’ve loved to see Gabriel Luna back as Robbie Reyes from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., because he did it so well and never really got his full due on the big screen. Still, curious to see where Gosling takes the character.
And then the room lost it when Ryan Reynolds showed up fully suited as Deadpool to crash the panel — the kind of surprise appearance that had the hall erupting on the spot. Marvel knows exactly how to use SDCC as a pressure valve — drop just enough to send fandom into overdrive for the next twelve months.
Closing Thoughts
SDCC isn’t just a trade show — it’s a week where the industry and the fandom actually get to be in the same room. From Walter Jones showing up at a nightclub kickoff party, to standing shoulder to shoulder with people who’ve been on my screen, to sitting in a packed panel watching grown adults get emotional over Saturday morning cartoons done right — that’s the con in a nutshell. Same time next year.